I am super pleased with the way this business formal dinner turned out. I have a tendency to make everything super formal. So it was a nice challenge to scale it back a bit. BUT You don’t want it to look like every other old boring dinner! Best way to do this, is to lighten the linen, yet keep a pattern. However it may not be fussy or busy. Choosing a more simple china and glassware helped. Pick a really interesting, almost undone floral arrangement. I love it when they look like still life paintings.

Another way to turn your event back towards the formal side, is to have place and menu cards. These beautiful silver foil menu cards are from Stamped Paper Co. They are perfect! Silver foil, but still whimsical.

You have to keep right on that edge, just between a celebration dinner and a black tie dinner. Fine line. You want everyone to be impressed but you do not want them feeling underdressed.